Rather than douse the loyal reader with a monsoon of NBA cap sheet minutiae, Sixers On SI left it to the fans to determine what's important to know. As free agency approaches, here is what is on the people's minds.Can we flip grimes for herb jones?— VJ EDGECOMBE (@doa180embiid76) June 26, 2026In theory, the Sixers could sign-and-trade Quentin Grimes to the New Orleans Pelicans for Herb Jones. The Pelicans wing is slated to make $14,898,786 next season, per Spotrac, before an extension paying him more than $22.5 million annually kicks in in 2027. So the Pelicans would have to actually want Quentin Grimes (perhaps some picks to sweeten the pot?), but it can be done.The thing that is difficult to say at this time is what Grimes' market will be. That matters. Why? If the Sixers take back more salary than they send out in a trade, they're hard-capped at the first luxury tax apron. If Grimes' market is such that he's earning more next season than Jones is, that rule would be a moot point.The catch in this hypothetical is that if the Sixers sign-and-trade any of their own free agents and take a player back, they are hard-capped at the second apron.So what happens if Grimes' salary next season comes in below Jones' salary next season? Despite the weirdness of the seemingly conflicting hard-caps, the hard-capping at the first apron would take priority over the hard-capping at the second apron.So, the TL;DR is yes, it can be legally done.Alternatively, the Sixers could just trade picks to the Pelicans for Jones, not sending out any players of their own. Jones could then fit into Philadelphia's non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which would hard-cap them at the first apron.Would you use the MLE on Mitchell Robinson. He’d be a part time starter and invaluable off the bench. He’d be a good pick n roll player with Philon on the second unit.— CT (@shuttlesworth1) June 26, 2026I'm glad you asked. Yours truly wrote about this when news broke on Thursday night that the Knicks were likely to lose Mitchell Robinson. You can read my stance here.what are the realistic options for backup center?— Michael Bass (@mbass100) June 26, 2026While I would classify Robinson as just outside of the realm of 'realism', I would not rule it out. Excluding players with club options, some of the options that should be affordable are Jusuf Nurkic and Kevin Love. Those names speak more to the quality of the market than they do to my actual taste for those options. Sandro Mamukelashvili will almost certainly opt out of his deal for a sizable payday, but he was also on a minimum, so most contracts will look like a payday in comparison. I'd look very hard at him.Why there should be a case to re-sign BOTH Oubre and Grimes to tradeable midsized deals and not hardcap the roster as we have their BIRD rights AND the market for wings and bigs to replace them is bad as opposed to via deadline trademins will fill out the roster either way— 🇨🇦Shaun (Stricker) 🇯🇲🇧🇧 (@shaun_forde) June 26, 2026Sure. The Sixers could do this very early in free agency since they have both players' Bird rights as you said and run essentially the same team from last season back. Give Kelly Oubre Jr. and Quentin Grimes inflated deals to create some tradeable salary when the in-season trade sweepstakes heat up. The risk, of course, is that the trade markets never materialize as the Sixers hope they do, leaving the Sixers with two above-market contracts on their books. Nonetheless, a valid method of team-building for sure.What kinda contract do you expect Oubre to land and does he wind up back with the 6ers?— Steven (@Phsportsfan) June 26, 2026This would require me to have proprietary knowledge of Oubre's market, which I do not have. He was playing on the room mid-level exception the last two seasons. He's coming off a good year and is only 30 years old. If I had to guess a number, $13-14 million per year? I think he's more likely than Grimes is to be back, but I wouldn't consider it likely that either guy is back.Can they sign one of Grimes or Oubre and then use the full non tax MLE?— Steven Vallorani (@SVallorani) June 26, 2026Technically, yes, this can be done. Essentially, the thinking would have to be that one of their markets is so dry that they're gettable at the value of the bi-annual exception ($5,478,000) or less. In that case, you could re-sign the player and still have the entire non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($15,048,000) at your disposal. But that's only a hypothetical. In reality, they're both likely going to get paid significantly more than that, rendering it impossible to expense the entire non-taxpayer mid-level elsewhere.I'm dying for a Big Move this offseasonPlease give me the % chances of the following players being traded this offseasonJoel EmbiidPaul GeorgeTyrese MaxeyI'm of the philosophy the quickest way to fixing this team is trading Maxey for a haul.— Honeyboy (@Honeybo52188140) June 26, 2026This prompt requires me to believe that this team needs to be "fixed". I don't have that view, not with Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe.I would say there's a 0% chance of Joel Embiid being moved because he's more valuable to the Sixers than he is to anyone else and no one is going to give Philadelphia a good return for the injury risk and contract they'd be assuming.I should issue a disclaimer—I'm generally trade-averse. I'm not a great judge of trade likelihood or trade value. But if there was going to be a way to improve the team by breaking up salary into multiple players, Paul George would be the ticket. His contract is also halfway paid off, so that could be more palatable to potential trade partners. I'll still say about 10% chance George gets moved.I think there's a 0.1% chance Maxey is moved. He's a top 15 player in the world, and I don't really want to hear about how small guards can't lead a team when Jalen Brunson just did it. He's also very clearly the culture-setter for this franchise, and all the young guys follow his lead. The only reason I'm not assigning a flat 0% chance to this is you never know who might make a godfather-level offer for him.Is there any value to a sign and trade deal with Grimes to maximize value as opposed to just using his cap space directly on a FA?— Don J (@Donnygloves) June 26, 2026Important minutiae moment—his roster spot is not open cap space. The Sixers don't just get the value of his salary back to use elsewhere. They are an over-the-cap team. So, yes, if he's not returning, there could be value to signing-and-trading him because that gets you something rather than leaving you with zero. Of course, it may be more detrimental to your roster construction for next season to engage in a sign-and-trade, but that depends on the package coming back to Philadelphia. This is all assuming, of course, that simply re-signing and keeping him is not an option, which I would not assume.There are a lot of ways Gansey and Myers can go in Free Agency. What's the one move (or moves) you would not want them entertaining?— Robert Ocean (@Farm_Fields204) June 26, 2026I don't have much preference in the matter. I'll say I don't want any more 40-year-olds taking up roster spots, even on the veteran minimum. I also don't think forking over the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception to Dean Wade, one of the staples of Mike Gansey's résumé in Cleveland, would be good practice.Who are your top 5 targets currently?I feel like right now the names that get brought up areCollinsWadeMitchell RobinsonMamuRui— Seth (@Seth5070) June 26, 2026I'd be very high on Rui Hachimura. My one concern is that I don't know how much of his shooting efficiency was the product of just spacing off two offensvie engines in Luka Doncic and LeBron James. Would he come to Philadelphia and immediately regress as a shooter? Realistically, though, he'll probably be too expensive.I'd be very interested in Mamukelashvili. A young, well-sized power forward with credible 3-point range would be excellent.Robinson has his fair share of health concerns and will likely be expensive, but he's a perfect fit otherwise.Luke Kennard's shooting prowess and secondary ballhandling would be incredible, although I suspect he'd require the entire non-taxpayer mid-level exception at the very least.The Sixers desperately need some mindless shooters, and Tim Hardaway Jr. would certainly fill that need. And probably at a favorable number, too.Outside of the 15m mle how much else do we have to spend?— John davis (@Johndavis8cxw) June 26, 2026If the Sixers choose to go the route of hard-capping at the first apron, which Bob Myers suggested they might a few weeks ago, the other relatively significant resource they'd have beyond the non-taxpayer mid-level exception would be the bi-annual exception ($5,478,0000).What are the most realistic options (if any) for an Embiid trade? Sabonis? Duren? Mystery candidate?— Kevin Yerger (@kevinyerger) June 26, 2026I don't think there are any realistic Embiid trades at this time. Domantas Sabonis offers nowhere near the impact that Embiid does, all things equal. Detroit would be insane to pivot to Embiid if they have to be out of the Jalen Duren business.Assuming they bring back Barlow, Walker, Watford and Bona: how much room below tax would they have to re sign Oubre/Grimes/Drumm and use the non tax MLE. I’m not endorsing resigning those vets just curious the non tax MLE and space for Bi or resign our own guys— Ben (@Ben_Meister4) June 26, 2026If we're just locking in the likes of Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker, Trendon Watford and Adem Bona at their current salaries, the Sixers are $14,611,806 below the tax line. As for the viability of bringing back any of Oubre, Grimes and Andre Drummond while also maintaining access to the full non-taxpayer mid-level, it would depend entirely on the markets for those players. My educated guess is there would be no room to accomplish all those things. Perhaps it could be done for Drummond, alone. Under the current cap sheet, there's no way to bring back all three and have the full mid-level. Perhaps things could be maneuvered a bit if they waive Bona ahead of his guarantee date and decline the club options on Barlow and Watford. But that might do them more harm than good. They also wouldn't shed enough money to re-sign all three players.Sixers bring back one of Oubre or Grimes (preferably Oubre) and have the full MLE who are you targeting with the full 15 million? Would you sign just one guy (like a Hachimura) or split it and sign two?— Eagles25champs💍🏆 (@Eagles25champs) June 26, 2026This is tough because I think Hachimura is a perfect fit, and I'd probably only use the full non-taxpayer mid-level on one guy if he was the perfect fit. Given that Gansey has said that they need help at every position, I'd probably break it up into multiple players.Is there a realistic way to acquire Jalen Duren via sign and trade? Maybe offer Grimes?— Bryce (@BryceJ913) June 26, 2026Given the top-heavy nature of the Sixers' cap sheet, the answer, in a word, is no. Again, hypothetically, they could pump Grimes' salary up to match what Duren gets to orchestrate a double sign-and-trade. But that would require the Pistons to want Grimes at all, and to want him at an exorbitant number. I'm rather confortable assuming no one wants Grimes at about $40 million, and the Pistons certainly won't when the opportunity cost is their All-Star big man.And from the Sixers' standpoint, how are you building a team with Embiid and Duren then combining for almost $100 million in salary?Since there were 30 questions to get to, we'll break these into two explainers. The other half will be published in the coming days.Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on X and Bluesky for the latest news.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow